Mother I love you, Mother I do...

I have been loved and kissed and hugged by Isabelle and her daddy all weekend. Ben surprised me on Friday when he came home from work with dinner and a movie for us to share after we got Jelly tucked into her bed for the night. The festivities carried on all day Saturday as we jogged, went to lunch at a new Mexican restaurant and shopped the afternoon away at the La Cantera shopping center. This morning Isabelle was so excited to give me her gift and card she had carefully wrapped and colored on. The card was precious and had a little girl on the front that looked just like her with blonde pigtails and pink bows. The gift had the new Jessica Seinfeld cookbook Deceptively Delicious in it from Belle as well as the Grey's Anatomy Series DVD from Ben. I can now bake some yummy food which I can "hide" cauliflower, sweet potatoes and broccoli in, while I get my McDreamy fill! It was a wonderful Mother's Day weekend and I am grateful that I have such a sweet child and husband that make my job enjoyable!

I also have to pay a quick tribute to the wonderful mothers Ben and I were raised by! They continue to teach us all things which are important and do it with great love. They are a great support and example to our little family! Happy Mother's Day!

And the Oscar goes to...

Isabelle loves to pretend and has quite the imagination! It is fun to listen to her "play" with her beloved stuffed friends and hear all of their dialogue.

This morning while we were out on a jog this is what I hear:
Sara, Sara come back. No. Sara, please come back. No, I am going to find my father. Sara, we're not kidding. You are going to get lost. I don't care. Sara!!!
It took me nearly half a mile of listening before I realized she was quoting "The Land Before Time."

I think she gets her hyper creative gene from her Dad which I am grateful for! Most mornings, I am just happy she can recite monologues to keep herself entertained until we can jog back up the hill and make it safely home. It is a beautiful time of year to be outside!

Shop till you drop!

Isabelle was born to shop! She loves to go shopping and can name and recognize too many of the stores already. She loves Target for popcorn, Nordstrom for balloons, GAP for coloring and Gymboree for the movie! Ben is often surprised that after several hours at the mall she will be disappointed that we are not stopping at Target on the way home. She will ask "just one more shopping please?"

She knows all of the appropriate shopping manners and is gracious to practice each of them. She greets the store clerks, picks up clothes that fall off the racks and makes sure to say "bank (thank) you" when she makes a purchase. She is conscience of matching and will put together outfits and then changes her mind and may go for different colors/prints.

While we are in a clothing store she will carefully search the racks and pick out something she wants to try on...her favorite are shoes! She and I were in a dressing room this week and with every pair of pants that I tried on she would say "you like that one mom?" And then she responds for me "no, too tight, not this one." When I put something on that she likes she exclaims "that one is beautiful!" Or, "you look pretty mom."

Some may say that this is a learned behavior, and I admit she has had an excellent education! She has had the privledge to grace some of the coutries best shopping cites, but I think it is in her genes! There is nothing more fun than a group of Christensen women with money in their purses!

Going once, going twice...sold!

Isabelle has been looking forward all week to the Stone Oak Ward Boy Scout Fundraiser Dinner and Auction. As far as she is concerned, eating spaghetti and "winning" a cake/pie at the church on a Friday night, way after her bedtime, is just about the most fun a 2 year old can have. As soon as we arrived on the scene, Belle laid eyes on her prize...a white cake in the shape of castle with none other than Cinderella coming out the front door! After several bids and much more money than she has in her piggy bank, Belle was the lucky lady who was able to bring the pretty cake home! (Dad was fortunate enough to bring home a homemade blueberry cheesecake too!)

Strength in numbers

Today the Bees fasted as a group with my dear dad in mind. We are prayerful that he will be accepted as a transplant patient into the Texas Liver Center program and that he will be matched with a healthy liver in the near future. I have faith that our Heavenly Father hears our prayers and I believe that He is especially sensitive to the buzzing of the Bees! Belle and I were homesick for each of you today and cannot wait until our next weekend getaway!

Because we live in states all over the country, we each wore our Bee necklaces today so that we would feel especially close and connected! Unfortunately, Ben had to be at church meetings early this morning so I was unable to take a picture of both Isabelle and I wearing our charms!

The Road Ends Here!

We are big NCAA basketball fans and when the Final Four is hosted in your own city, you have to head downtown and participate in some of the "madness!" Isabelle had a great time in the 85 degree weather seeing all of the crazy fans in blue...did you realize all 4 teams are blue this year? She also became quite the Kidd Rock fan as she danced to his LOUD music live! We have been to the Big Dance before and Ben still claims it was his favorite sporting event ever! However, even though we are not actually attending the games this year, Ben said spending the day in "Hoop City" with his two girls was a close second!